“But the Plane Can Crash”: Explanatory Talk in Parent–Child Interaction at the Airport Gate

This study examines explanatory talk in a video-recorded parent–child interaction taking place in an airport; the child (age 5 years) is about to fly on his own for the first time and starts inquiring about the upcoming journey. Multimodal interaction analysis is used to investigate how affective and epistemic stances organize the trajectory of the explanatory talk that unfolds. The analysis shows how knowledge exploration and emotion work become intertwined as the mother, responding to the child's concerns, carefully balances producing ‘factual’ explanations with reassuring her child that the journey will go well. The study adds to research on children in interaction in settings outside the home and educational institutions, showing how a child is prepared for handling a complex task in a public environment without an adult caregiver.